A Westminster Diary or An SME in King Arthur’s Court by Alun Rafique

Editor’s Note: Across the pond the challenges SMEs face in terms of doing business with the UK government is at times reminiscent of King Arthur having to extract the sword from the Stone of Scone. Can the same thing be said for SMEs here in North America?

Editor’s Note: In this latest account about the challenges faced by SMEs in terms of doing business with the UK Government – a challenge that is more often than not commensurate with King Arthur extracting the sword from the Stone of Scone – Alun Rafique shares, in both words and pictures, his company’s experience with providing evidence before the Communities and Local Government Committee.

For those who weren’t aware, we received a grant from the technology Strategy Board to help develop our tool to assist local councils with adoption of eSourcing and encouraging innovation from local suppliers. We took our innovative design and applied it to the areas of sub-OJEU tenders and in-framework negotiation.

We have had much success in helping councils to easily and efficiently save money. However, we have also faced many challenges working with the Public Sector, mainly relating to the inconsistency of tendering approaches and onerous…